How to Harness Histamine – Not Just Allergy Related

Welcome to a glorious weekend - hopefully it is going to treat you with some rest and recreation. This week's topic is an interesting one as it is often overlooked when considering emotional stability including depression and anxiety. When we think of histamine, it is often in terms of allergic responses. Your body needs a balance of histamine release from your immune system (mast cells) in response to certain allergens so that those organisms don't get a chance to wreak havoc in your system. However, too much and too little histamine production can create much deeper issues including emotional ups and downs (often associated with schizophrenic behaviours). This is a complex subject, so I will break it into a few weeks. This week we will focus on too much histamine (histadelia) as this is commonly what I treat in clinic and is often associated with the following symptoms:

Allergic symptoms (asthma, skin itching, rhinitis)

Schizophrenia

Compulsions and addictions

Excessive stomach acid production

Excessive saliva and tear production

High personal drive, high imagination, tendency to phobias

Poor tolerance to pain and heat

Frequent colds and flu

Often this condition will lead to a poor production of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine - all hormones required for balanced mood, addictive tendency and pain management. This occurs because when histamine production is high and the production of these hormones are low due to a function known as under-methylation and due to conversion of the amino acid histidine by bacterial action in your body. Foods (and there are many of them) that contribute to elevated histamine production include reheated and freshly cooked animal products, cheeses, certain vegetables such as tomatoes, spinach and eggplant and in some cases eggs. Foods that help include vegetarian style dishes, wholegrain cereals, basil, fennel, ginger, cucumber, broccoli, kale and sweet potato.

If you suspect you may have a problem with histamine production, I would highly suggest you also get Mauve Factor and Kryptopyrroles as well as serum copper alongside your histamine. Once you have all this information, we can determine what the best dietary and supplemental approach will be for you - sometimes getting under methylation into balance can have an adverse affect on these as well, which can in turn create similar problems.

Next week I will go further into this fine balance of Histamine and Kryptopyrroles. In the meantime, if you have a need to investigate this sooner, contact me at nicky@wisehealthyliving.com.au.

Remember - although a high protein diet may seem like the best alternative to a weight loss problem - this exact diet can hamper the outcome of histamine, which may be the key to YOUR weight problem considering the symptoms mentioned above. BOOM!

As a naturopath I believe that patients are looking for empathy, results oriented and achievable health advice as well as consideration for the family budget when it comes to supplement and remedy selection.Nicky Wood -Gold Coast Naturopath